German lawmakers have passed a bill that makes the process of obtaining citizenship easier and allows people to become German citizens while keeping their original citizenship.
The naturalisation reform reduces the residency requirement for applying for German citizenship from eight to five years, and grants German citizenship at birth to children of parents from abroad if one parent has been legally residing in Germany for five years.
People who obtain German citizenship will no longer have to give up the citizenship of their native country, allowing German-born Turks and others to become voters in Germany. [ more ]